Analysis

Patent Cases To Watch In The Second Half Of 2024

By Ryan Davis

A U.S. Supreme Court case over the reach of the judicially created double patenting doctrine and a dispute over which patents branded drugmakers can list in a federal database are among the cases attorneys will have their eyes on for the rest of the year.

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VLSI Tells Fed. Circ. IPR Should Have Ended After Sanctions

By Dani Kass

VLSI Technology is urging the Federal Circuit to revive the patent it used to win a $1.5 billion infringement verdict against Intel, saying the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's invalidation was tainted by mishandled sanctions proceedings.

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Fed. Circ. Pauses Ouster Of Teva Patents From Orange Book

By Bryan Koenig

Teva can keep challenged asthma inhaler device patents listed on, and protected by, an important government database after the Federal Circuit agreed Wednesday to pump the brakes on the patents' delisting while the Israeli drugmaker appeals an order won by Amneal in an infringement lawsuit.

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Vidal Says USPTO Has Improved Patent, TM Application Speed

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday said it has been able to cut down lags in reviewing patent and trademark applications through increased hiring, better pay for patent examiners and improving technology.

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Va. Jury Invalidates Elevated Stairs Patent Claims

By Adam Lidgett

A federal jury in Virginia has found that claims in an inventor's patent on elevated stairs are invalid, in a win for Mission Integrated Technologies.

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Meet Del. Federal Court's Newest Magistrate Judge

By Rose Krebs

The newest magistrate judge in Delaware's federal district court is a former law clerk to another judge in the courthouse, and also previously served as an intellectual property attorney at Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP.

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Vidal Says Late Response Isn't An 'Abandonment' Of IPR

By Adam Lidgett

The head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has thrown out a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision that issued a loss to an owner of a patent covering a portable backup charger, sending the case back to the board.

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Beastie Boys Want Chili's To Stop Playing 'Sabotage'

By Ivan Moreno

The Beastie Boys can't stand it. Chili's parent company, Brinker International Inc., has allegedly been using the band's 1990s hit "Sabotage" in social media videos to promote the restaurant chain without permission, and the band wants it to stop, according to a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.

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Senate Clears Patent Bill Aiming To Lower Drug Prices

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would pump the brakes on the ability of pharmaceutical companies to steer patients away from generic versions of a drug, a measure that lawmakers said would lower drug costs.

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Sens. Pitch COPIED Act To Fight AI-Content, Empower Artists

By Gina Kim

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced legislation dubbed the COPIED Act on Thursday to fight the growth of AI-generated "deepfakes," proposing a framework that would give journalists and artists control over their work via a watermarking process and allow them to sue those who use their work without permission.

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IP Forecast: Napa Winery's Ex-Atty Wants Another Trial

By Andrew Karpan

A Texas lawyer plans to tell an appeals court why he should receive another trial in a trademark case from a Napa Valley winery, a former client that he claims sold off a "wildly successful California cult wine" out from under him.

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GSK Asks Judge To Rule In Teva IP Case, Citing Opioid Deals

By Andrew Karpan

A GlaxoSmithKline lawyer has urged a Delaware federal judge to make up his mind about a nearly $400 million patent case against Teva Pharmaceuticals in light of unrelated "opioid-related cases" that the Israeli generic-drug maker has been settling in the billions of dollars.

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Judge Won't Dismiss Cannabis Extraction IP Dispute

By Jonathan Capriel

Subsidiaries of Canadian cannabis company Halo Collective Inc. can't escape patent infringement claims by a Colorado-based firm specializing in developing techniques for extracting hemp oil, a California federal judge has ruled, rejecting a slew of motions seeking summary judgment.

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DC Judge Questions Pharma Co.'s Generic Harm In FDA Spat

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge on Thursday seemed skeptical about Vanda Pharmaceuticals' claims that waiting for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to review its challenge to the agency's approval of a generic challenger to its sleep medication would seriously jeopardize the company's future.

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Ah, Geez! Fox Sues Pop-Up For Copying 'The Simpsons' Pub

By Bonnie Eslinger

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. slapped a Philadelphia special event company with a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming infringement of intellectual property rights it holds in "The Simpsons" animated series and movie, saying JMC Pop Ups is creating unauthorized replicas of Moe's Tavern from the popular show.

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Security Manager Gave $85M Biz Book To Rival Co., Suit Says

By Aaron Keller

A former Connecticut regional manager spent days downloading "extensive" data before leaving a security firm for a direct competitor, then gave his new employer millions of dollars' worth of stolen secrets to snipe clients and bolster his chances for earning a lucrative bonus, according to a new suit filed in federal court.

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Chancery Fast-Tracks Blue Cross Data Co. Suit, Denies TRO

By Leslie A. Pappas

An independent licensee of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association that accused a customer of sharing confidential data with industry competitor Cigna Corp. got its Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit fast-tracked Thursday but failed to get immediate injunctive relief because the harms it alleged were too "speculative."

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MoFo Lands NY Tech Partner From Goodwin

By Tracey Read

Morrison Foerster LLP has added a technology group partner from Goodwin LLP to join its technology transactions group in New York.

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Top Atty At Army Center Of Military History Joins Shook Hardy

By Jack Rodgers

The former chief counsel for the U.S. Army Center of Military History has joined Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP as co-chair of the firm's growing art law practice, the firm announced Thursday.

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Recent Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions and a proposed rulemaking indicate the board’s intention to continue to take a tougher stance on multiple inter partes review petitions challenging the same patent, presenting key factors for petitioners to consider, like the necessity of parallel filings and serial petitions, say Yinan Liu and Cory Bell at Finnegan.

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How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition

To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.

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Opinion

States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

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Trump Says Immunity Ruling Means Conviction Must Be Axed

By Hailey Konnath

Donald Trump has officially lodged his request for his conviction to be vacated in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision, arguing that prosecutors' evidence in the hush money case rests on official acts he took as president, according to a redacted motion made public Thursday.

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House Fails To Pass Inherent Contempt Resolution For AG

By Courtney Bublé

The House on Thursday failed to pass a Republican-led inherent contempt resolution for Attorney General Merrick Garland in hopes of obtaining audiotapes of President Joe Biden's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur in the classified documents investigation, but the measure's sponsor promised to try again.

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Ga. Dem Helps Block NY Judge's Nomination From Advancing

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden's nomination of U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn for the Southern District of New York failed to advance out the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, after a key Democrat joined Republicans in opposition over her recommendation in a case that an inmate be transferred to a female facility.

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2 Of Alaska's 3 District Judge Seats Listed As 'Emergencies'

By Courtney Bublé

Two of the three district judgeships on the District of Alaska have been listed as "judicial emergencies" following the recent resignation of Judge Joshua Kindred over findings of sexual misconduct.

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Senate Confirms Judge To Federal Claims Court

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 52-39 Thursday to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather to the Court of Federal Claims for a term of 15 years.

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YSL Prosecutors Oppose Judge's Recusal Amid Mistrial Bid

By Kelcey Caulder

Prosecutors on Wednesday argued there is no reason Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville should stop overseeing the ongoing racketeering trial against Atlanta rapper Young Thug and his associates, approximately an hour after the rapper moved for a mistrial.

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Attys Say Milberg Must Pay For Fraud In Visa, Mastercard MDL

By Emily Sawicki

Class counsel representing plaintiffs in long-running multidistrict litigation accusing Visa and Mastercard of charging improper merchant fees have called for sanctions against Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman LLC, laying out arguments for a fee reimbursement after the firm admitted to mistakenly registering fraudulent clients.

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Analysis

'Bridgegate' Defense Offers Road Map For NJ RICO Case

By George Woolston

Counsel for the powerful New Jersey mogul and Democratic operatives facing explosive racketeering charges are likely to justify their actions as just business, experts told Law360, describing defense tactics similar to the ones that absolved defendants in "Bridgegate," New Jersey's most notorious politics-fueled crime in recent history.

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Top NC Legal Industry Legislation Of 2024: A Midyear Report

By Travis Bland

North Carolina lawmakers have instituted a streamlined process for state business court filings and are eying controls on attorney fees for debt collection lawsuits. Another closely watched measure eases the discipline process for attorneys with the expansion of records access and the ability to expunge certain ethics transgressions.

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